First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (49 page)

"Roger
that Base. We're rolling. Bit bumpy though," Luigi reported.

Mario
laughed. "Can't make anyone happy." He shook his head
watching the craft roll to a stop. "Looks good." He waved
to Joyce.

She
pumped her fist in the air. "Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking
about!" she yodeled.

He
chuckled. "What's say we go meet them huh?" She smiled and
started for the truck. He hastily followed her.

...*...*...*...*...

"Yeah!
I've been waiting to do this for too damn long!" Mario held up
his fist. Luigi nodded and smacked it with his own. The felt the
flash as someone took a picture. "Bet that will be on every web
news page in an hour," Mario chuckled.

...*...*...*...*...

The
moment Luigi took his helmet off Mario locked his arm around his neck
and dragged him down. "HEY!"

Mario
started giving him a thorough nuggie. "Shoot a rock at me will
ya? Didn't mom tell you not to throw rocks? When will you listen?"

Joyce
laughed. "Oh let him up. I've punished him enough," Mario's
sister in-law Betsy waved. Wanda nodded.

Reluctantly
Mario let go. Luigi stood up straight and looked at his brother
aggrieved rubbing his sore scalp. "Owe! It was just a little
one!" He held his fingers up measuring about an inch apart.

"Luigi..."
Mario growled.

"Okay
okay, a big one Mario." Luigi's fingers spread. His smile broke
out.

Mario
turned to Betsy. "Can I hit him?" he demanded. Luigi
started to back away.

"You’re
his brother. Since when did you ever ask for permission?" Betsy
responded with a laugh as Luigi raised his hands up and tried to duck
behind her. "Be my guest," she said airily. Luigi backed
away and then sprang out of the airlock.

"That's
all I needed to hear," Mario replied running after him.

"Betttssy!"
Luigi wailed as they ran off.

"We'll
never get any peace now." Wanda chuckled. “Don't wake the
baby!” she called.

"Will
those two ever grow up?" Joyce asked shaking her head.

"No,"
both women answered together then looked at each other laughing.

Joyce
laughed. "So I take it the Mario brothers are back in force.
Mars will never be the same," she smiled.

Betsy
laughed. "Yeah, well we'll call them to heel in a minute,"
Wanda replied. Joyce's smile turned into a puckish grin.

"Yeah,
it is kinda fun doing that." Betsy chuckled. "Oh boysss!"

...*...*...*...*...

"Should
have called it a south American bus," Luigi grimaced ruefully.
"Fish, chickens, rabbits, and goats." He shook his head.
"You have no idea the caterwauling they made!"

Betsy
grimaced. "Try cleaning up after them in zero G!" she
sighed. "We lost a couple rabbits and chickens; we think they
had heart attacks."

Mario
nodded. "To be expected I guess." He was glad they had
spares and had a container of embryos. The animals they currently had
would serve as host mothers.

Luigi
sighed. "The question now is do you have room for them all. And
us!" He waved.

"Well,
let me just show you the vault. Wanda calls it the warren."
Mario grinned and led them through the hab through the next and down
a tunnel to an airlock. "We managed to create a tunnel to this
airlock last year, so we don't have to suit up anymore." Wanda
smiled. She had made peace with her husband's construction a while
ago.

Mario
opened the door. "Oh sorry." He reared back as Joyce came
through from the other side. "Excuse me, coming through,"
Joyce called. Wanda chuckled.

"We
still need to expand." Mario waved her forward. "Ladies
first." He smiled. She curtsied. Betsy did as well and followed.
They walked down the narrow brick corridor to the next door.

"Another
airlock door?" Bruce asked.

Mario
nodded. "We scavenged a lot from that MAV." Wanda and Betty
had already entered.

"Luigi!"
Betty called.

Mario
grinned. "I guess she is impressed." Mario waved for his
brother to enter.

Luigi
entered and gasped. "I saw the vid feed, but my word!" He
looked around.

"This
is actually our first vault." Mario waved to the ceiling above.
"Thanks to you we made the plastic and metal flooring." He
pointed to the spiral stairs.

"That
leads up to the labs above." He pointed to an arch. “That
leads to the living area." He turned and waved the Treadwell’s
and others in. "Follow Luigi folks." He pointed to his
brother. Luigi stopped in the arch and nodded.

"Kitchenette
and bathroom from the MAV, nice recycling." Luigi observed with
a nod as he entered. Mario managed to shoulder his way through the
tour group to catch up.

"The
kitchenette is tiny; we used the microwave from the MAV, the
convection oven, as well as the storage cabinets. We built the island
out of brick. The counter is made of stones embedded in mortar and
topped with resin. Something Wanda did and she can tell you more
about that later.” He smiled. “The first fish pond is
over there." He waved to the waterfall.

Mrs.
Treadwell went over and looked. "Nice." She looked at her
husband.

He
chuckled. "We left our snorkeling gear at home remember?"
he teased. She smiled.

"Upstairs
is the bedrooms and another bath." Mario pointed to another
spiral staircase. "There is also an opening to the gallery. Let
me show you that." He led the way up the stairs. "There are
three bedrooms and the nursery on this floor down the hallway. They
are pretty Spartan and small, but we are working on expanding the
base." He opened a door. "OOPS!" He closed the door
fast. "Sorry you two!" He called, blushing.

Luigi
saw that he was blushing furiously and laughed. "Caught them?"
He chuckled.

Mario
sighed, eyes closed. "Yeah. Sergei and Tess.”

Luigi's
eyes went wide, and then he nodded. He waved them on. "Piotr is
asleep here in the nursery. Bath is here. We used all native
materials for this one; the tiles are ceramic with a glaze of glass.
As you can see the walk in shower has a glass block wall. We are
considering using them in the next vault series we are building
nearby." He pointed out the toilet and sink. "These two
were the hardest things I have ever made," Mario sighed in
remembered frustration. Luigi chuckled. "Okay, out here is the
hall, we want to have carpet, but that is another project for another
day. Down the hall we have the opening to the Gallery." Mario
pointed to the arch. On the other side they could see blue and white.

As
they entered the arch the Treadwell’s gasped. "Yeah. Not
bad. I didn't know I married an artist of this caliber," Mario
sighed in contentment. Her mural was striking. "Wanda used
different rocks to create the different pigments for the paint. It is
actually resin, treated before we applied it." He pointed to the
painted blue sky ceiling above. "Not bad huh?" The
Treadwell’s smiled holding hands. They could hear water
burbling below. "Stairs are over here." Mario led them over
to a brick stair. "The railing is from the MAV recycling
program," he explained. Each MAV that left the planet left a
ground stage behind they then eagerly scavenged for parts. Hell, the
last one they'd started scavenging the lower section before the team
had left! He led them down the stairs to the next floor. "This
is where we can sit and look out, have activities, the usual."
He waved to a pair of panels.

"Ping
pong table?" Luigi asked. He picked up a ball and paddle.

Mario
chuckled and nodded. "Reprap paddle, ball, and net." He
waved to a brick table. "Picnic area." Some of the others
were leaning over the railing looking down. He smiled. "I see
some of you have seen the garden below. Come on, let’s go
look." He waved them to a set of stairs leading down.

On
the lowest level Mrs. Treadwell stopped and admired the small trees
growing. "We have some flowers too," Wanda said. She came
over and handed each lady a flower. They smiled and nodded politely.

"Not
quite a Hawaiian lea, but not bad," Mr. Treadwell teased.

"On
this end we have the second fish pond. It is actually a double pond,
one stacked above the other," Wanda pointed it out. "Sergei
can explain it to you, he is... occupied."

Luigi
chuckled. "Yes we know." He looked over to Mario who was
looking away.

Wanda
followed the look then shook her head. "Yes, it can get
difficult finding places and times to be alone," she sighed.
"But as we add space, we can get some alone time more often."
She waved to the painting. "You like it?" Mario smiled
hugging her to his side. She wrapped her arm around him.

"I
love it," Luigi smiled. On the wall was a painting of children
playing outside in the sun. It was a beautiful image, blending Earth
and Mars together.

"We
copied it from an image some children sent us. Had to blow it up."
Mario smiled.

"Color
values aren't quite right, but I did my best," Wanda replied.

"It
is perfect hon," Mario said. Luigi and Betty nodded. They looked
over to see the Treadwell’s admiring the painting. Mr.
Treadwell took the flower and put it in his wife's hair above her
right ear.

"Hmm
good idea," Luigi said. He copied the Treadwell's. Betsy
blushed.

...*...*...*...*...

"I'm
proud of you big bro, you did good." Luigi patted his brother on
his back.

Mario
chuckled. "We had a lot of help." He smiled down at his
wife.

"What
did we miss?" Tess asked from above. Mario looked up to see
Sergei and Tess coming down the stairs.

"Just
the inside tour, you can fill them in on the fish and the other
vaults," Mario replied. Tess smiled as she carried little Piotr.

"My
word!" Mrs. Treadwell admired her. "How old is he now? Two
months?" she asked.

Tess
smiled. "About three months,” she said softly.

"Well,
I am looking forward to seeing him crawl. So much life! You've filled
this barren with so much life!" Mrs. Treadwell patted her arm,
and then hugged her. "You positively glow my dear!"

Sergei
looked smug and proud. "Da that she does." He hugged his
wife's shoulders then kissed her cheek. "I want to explain..."

She
smiled in amusement to her husband. "Go," Tess said, giving
permission.

He
chuckled. "I'll be back." She blew him a kiss as he came
over to the Mario brothers.

"Is
so good to see you again Luigi," Sergei said as he shook Luigi's
hand. Luigi pulled the Russian into a bear hug. They slapped each
other's backs and laughed.

"I
see you've been busy with the fish. Wait till you see what else we
brought you." Luigi responded.

"More
fish?" Sergei looked at him in excitement as they parted.

"Oh,
that and more," Betsy replied as she hugged him.

"Chickens,
rabbits, shrimp, goats, kelp, all sorts of things."

Sergei's
eyes were round. "All dis?" He waved.

"I
guess we better get onto that other vault then!" Mario replied
with a tired laugh.

Wanda
chuckled. "See what you started?"

He
smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he replied,
totally content. She grinned.

The
next morning they were finishing breakfast when Mario tossed his
cloth napkin on the plate. "Oh I'm stuffed!" He rubbed his
belly. "So what else did you bring? Nothing for me I take it?"
Mario teased Luigi.

Luigi
chuckled. "Weeell as a matter of fact..." He pulled out a
plush likeness of Mario.

"You’re
kidding," Mario glared. "No Coronas?"

Luigi
chuckled. "I knew I was forgetting something," he smiled at
Mario's growl of disgust. "I did manage this though." He
held up a memory stick.

"What
is it?" Mario asked.

"Oh,
only all the games and movie's you've missed while you've been
here...including the latest Mario game, and latest version of Mario
Kart."

Mario's
smile widened into a grin. "Come on!" He raced out of the
room with Luigi fast on his heels.

"Boys,"
Wanda chuckled in despair. "Guess that leaves you and I to clean
up..."

She
looked to Betsy. "As usual," Betsy laughed.

...*...*...*...*...

"You
miss Snowball?" Mario asked Betsy softly. The SSTO with crew two
had landed and they were waiting for the latest load. While they
waited Betsy caught them up on some of the gossip and events they
missed.

Betsy
sighed. "I had to put her down a year ago. Cancer."

Mario
patted her arm. "It's hard losing a loved one." He looked
over to Luigi who nodded. "Speaking of pets though...did you get
them?" Luigi feigned surprise then nodded with a smile as his
brother's face started to fall.

"Of
course I did!" He held up a box. "No guarantees on delivery
though," he cautioned. He carried the box over to Wanda.

"For
me?" she asked surprised. Mario and Luigi smiled.

"Open
it. It is for you and all of us actually."

She
opened the box and looked inside. Her face came up shining with
tears. "Oh Mario...!" she said softly as she reverently
took the bowl out. Three golden koi fish swam in circles.

"They
are pretty small now, but they will grow," Luigi smiled.

"And
Japanese fish too?" She reached in and pulled out four
cylinders. Each had a purple fish with long fins. "They're
beautiful." She admired the fish. "Just beautiful,"
she whispered and set them on the table in front of her. Mario
grinned. She got up and hugged him, then Luigi.

"Hey,
keep your mitts off my hubby," Betsy teased with a mock growl.
Wanda hugged her too.

...*...*...*...*...

"Well,
we are completely self sufficient as far as food, air, water, fuel,
and shelter are concerned. At least until the electronics wear out."
Luigi nodded to the rows of greenhouses. "Glad you put the
plastic sheet maker to good use," Luigi observed. Mario smiled.